by Zack Smedley

YA Contemporary, 2019 by Page Street Kids, 393 Pages

What I Didn’t Like:

The Aunt character is NOT likable and may even trigger anyone who was raised in a toxic perfectionist household. Proceed with caution.
Our main character makes awful decisions. Let’s get that clear up front. I’m not excusing them later for what I did like. He makes awful decisions that hurt a lot of people. That can be hard to read since he’s your main character.
If you happen to NOT be Catholic, some of this definitely will make you groan or get angry. There’s a lot in here about how being part of the LBGT community is HARDER for people raised in religion.

The voice of the main character is perfect FROM THE FIRST LINE. You get an immediate sense of this kid and connect to him right away. He comes across as a natural storyteller and he reads perfectly realistic.
The banter and relationship between Nate and Cam is natural and flawless, which is not what you expect from reading the description. You expect tension and underlying problems, you don’t get that. It’s more natural this way, which I like.
The major characters are all realistic and flawed. No one in this book is perfect, which matches real life in remarkable ways. I felt completely sucked into their world. While this is NOT an excuse for bad behavior, I did appreciate that all of these characters made mistakes like real people. They screw things up, sometimes they’re forgiven and sometimes they’re not. It’s incredibly realistic.

The author says he writes for “marginalized young adults” and he definitely did that here. More importantly, he captured the essence of that in the narrative. So if you ARE, WERE, or want to understand marginalized young adults, read this one.
Contemporary fans! If you’re someone who gravitates toward stories where the characters come alive on the pages and you feel their pain, you’ll love this story.
Light mystery fans, this does utilize the classic before and after technique to bring you to a BIG EVENT that does shock you in a good way.

The blend of contemporary story with mystery elements here WORKS and, more importantly, this author shows he is a force for writing young adults in a natural and amazing way.